RE: Email suggestions

[Bonno Bloksma <b.bloksma@tio.nl>]

Hi Jerry,

I will focus on one part, the other parts have been covered.

[....]
> Next question: Typically mail is not left on the servers, which I understand is one 
> of the advantages of imap.  I've been using POP3 (qpopper), but are there other
> reasons for going to imap?

Using IMAP means that the mail WILL be left on the server unless the user moves the mail from the inbox (and related folders) to some sort of local archive folder. With pop3 the client will pull the mail from the server and delete it on the server, with IMAP the client(s) will just sync with the server.

So unless you have some way of training the mail users and making sure they create archive mail folders AND move the mail to those folders once the mail is read.... you will end up with mail on the server.
Of course, if you want to provide the users with a webmail interface then IMAP is really useful because they can (re)read mail online which they already "downloaded" to their PC. Users with multiple client devices will see the same mail on all devices, with the same (read, marked, etc.) status.

If you just want them to get their mail the stick with pop3. The folder structure of IMAP is only useful if people can structure their mail using those folders.
Finally, pop3 is faster than IMAP because there is less to check on the server, so if you are not going to use the features of IMAP then just stick to pop3. But do use an environment that will allow you to upgrade to adding IMAP once you want to do so. Most mailservers support using both protocols at the same time and leaving it up to the enduser which to use.